If They Sentence Me to Hang
by MissKettle
Summary: The year is 1892 and the Salem Witch Trials have only started. For a young Brit this means nothing, and the year only marks the finding of her hero. But the worse has yet to show its ugly face. Rated T for language;Alfred x Nyo!Arthur Alice Please review


Chapter 1: The Beginning to this Maddening Love Story

Gloomy skies embraced a small village located in colonial Massachusetts in a tight grip, making it clear to even the most dense of mankind that it wasn't planning to be replaced by rays of sunshine anytime soon. Instead it promised an ominous atmosphere, maybe a little downpour. Both of which could greatly reflect Alice Kirkland's mood: lonely and upset.

While her family was out working hard to aid everyone else in living, she took care of a small boy named Peter—her little brother. She rocked him back and forth and hummed a small tune, one close to her heart but one she couldn't exactly name at the current moment—or any one at that. She held him close as a soft, forced smile graced her small, light-pink lips. Peter close his eyes and snuggled close to her for more warmth subconsciously. This action made her smile more genuine and gave it a purpose. Even if it was something small such as what Peter had done, to feel the warmth of someone else and be depended on was just what she needed. Too feel as though her efforts actually contributed—even if not as much in comparison to what the others were doing—and helped someone made her smile just a bit more than she had been faking to do before.

After a while, when Alice assured that Peter was sound asleep, she walked down to his room and placed him in his bed. She leaned down and planted a chaste kiss on the others forehead and whispered a "Good night" before looking out the window to inspect the weather and its changes—if any.

Much to her dismay, not even a small hint of light was too be spotted. She let out a heavy, exaggerated sigh and decided to best to stay indoors. Though she felt she had far to much of that and that doing was "best" in general certainly didn't also apply to the best for an individual. So, going with her reasoning, she walked out the door and through the village. Glancing every so often at others whom were spending their afternoons working, at children playing or just people standing there doing nothing but chatter about the Witch Trails that had been recently taking place.

"How foolish of people to believe in such rubbish.," She mumbled under her breathe, a British accent accompanying the words she spoke aloud to herself, "Killing off the 'people of the Devil'" She mimicked, "Please, does that not make them just as much like him as those whom they accuse?" The question was honestly something she had pondered about from time to time. If they are to believe that they are the good and the followers of someone who wants to spread the love and acceptance to even those who differ slightly, then why go against that and justify it? Sure there was bad, but wasn't there always something worse that was more likely and easier to prove? Rather than absurd accusations being pointed left and right, with no real evidence but superstitions to back them up?

Alice shook her head, assuming that she was just a bit naive on the situation, and that it was best to not announce her input like that—even if her only audience was herself. As she turned a corner she saw a tall man about her age—perhaps a year or so older—standing against the wall, a big grin on his face as he conversed with the man in front of him. He seemed as though he was wrapping it off, as he waved and turned to face her. He had blue eyes—now that Alice got a front glance of him—and had some odd hair at the top of his head, which Alice dismissed for being bed head. His grin grew into a big smile as he began walking up to her.

A sense of panic filled Alice. She wasn't one to be confident in herself nor her looks, but the thought of a man just coming along to start of conversation just gave her some unpleasant thoughts. Just to stay polite she waved her hand and mumbled a small, unintelligible hello before trying to avert the stranger and walk around him. Though this didn't go as planned and she ended up tripping over the others foot. Alice waited for the cold impact of the ground to break her fall, but as a substitute, she felt a strong grip on her arm, catching her in mid-air and helping her up.

"Are you alright, Miss?" said an urging, caring voice. Alice turned around to come face to face with the only one who the voice could belong to: the Stranger. Now that she was closer to him rather than 10-feet away, she got to see just how beautiful the others eyes were She became entranced and hypnotized by the others mesmerizing sapphire orbs.

_ Snap, snap._

"Excuse me? Miss! You've been staring at me like that for a while now, kind of creeping me out." The familiar voice took her out of her trance, and she felt the blood rush to her face.

"I'm sorry, sir! I'm just," She was just what? Alice searched in her head for a reasonable excuse. Anything was better than admitting to staring and getting lost in the eyes of a man you had just met, "tired. Lost as well!"

The stranger raised an eyebrow at this and let out a small, warm and childish laugh, "Lost? As in you don't know your way around town?"

"Oh no, not like that kind of lost, you twit. Just in thought! I honestly don't see how someone would stare at another for who knows how long if they were to be lost around this small little village. In thought would make much more sense," She let out a sigh, "I suppose you aren't the best at reading the atmosphere and coming up with conclusions, though. So I apologize for my rude behavior. I'm just a hot-tempered person." While Alice pushed her blonde hair behind her ear while she apologized, she diverted her emerald eyes onto something less distracting and that would earn her a ticket out of the awkward conversation.

To this Alfred smiled, "Well, can you at least tell me your name? I think it'd be better than leaving you nameless."

"I'm Alice. Alice Kirkland, and I suppose I, too, sound engross myself in asking what your name is?"

"Alfred. Alfred F. Jones."

"Well then, _Mister Jones_," Alice said, a small smile creeping onto her lips, "I suppose I'll be seeing you soon."

"Alright then, _Alice_, but please: call me 'Alfred' next time." He remarked, an innocent and playful tone in his voice as if he felt he had just beaten her at her own game, which she wasn't even playing to begin with.

"I'll see what I can do," The young Briton remarked, the small smile now turned into something sly as she walked past the man she had just recently met. A bubbly feeling in her chest, which she found hard to suppress. Yet with it came a bad feeling that things were going to take a turn for the worse.

As she was lost pondering about what the two feelings she mustered up were, she managed to turn a blind eye to all the posters and news articles of the recent trials, she blocked out the murmuring of the other girls in the village around her, and she missed five important words. Each and every one of them leading to the demise of yet another innocent girl. Such a shame that it just so happened to be her.

**Authors Note: This will range anywhere from 10-30 chapters and more characters will be introduced. Other possible side pairings I have yet to think of, but they will come and be placed somewhere in the story. **

**For those who don't know Peter is the Principality of Sealand.**

**I also apologize if this chapter seems rusty and a bit off an odd start. I'll see how I feel about it in a week or two and then decide how I'm going to tackle editing in and writing the rest of the fanfic.**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading this and a review would be very much appreciated!**

**With love,**  
**MissKettle~**


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